This study examines whether the “soft” information present in merger and acquisition announcement press releases contains incrementally valuable news relative to traditional “hard” data and analyst generated information. We use Diction, a textual-analysis program, to construct measures...

This study examines how the appointment of former politicians and regulators to boards of directors or management teams influences corporate acquisition activity and performance. We find that bidders with political connections are more likely to acquire targets and avoid regulatory delay or...

Using 13,233 acquisitions from 57 countries, we examine M&A decisions made by busy boards. We find that few busy acquirers originate from emerging markets and that they tend to undertake cross-border mergers, favor public targets, finance with cash and equity, pursue non-diversifying mergers,...

Using a large sample of CEOs of U.K. firms, we show that CEO age is a key determinant of acquisition activity. We find that younger CEOs are more likely to acquire another firm and spend more on large capital expenditures. We argue that while younger CEOs of both U.K. and U.S. firms undertake...

This study examines the role that CEO overconfidence plays in an explanation of international mergers and acquisitions during the period 2000-2006. Using a sample of CEOs of Fortune Global 500 firms over our sample period, we find that CEO overconfidence is related to a number of critical...